Peyton closes Manchester restaurant

Restaurant group Gruppo has closed Air, the upmarket sister restaurant of Mash in Manchester, because it failed to attract enough customers.

Oliver Peyton, chairman of Gruppo, said the neighbourhood in which the 125-seat restaurant was based had "changed dramatically" and was no longer suitable for a restaurant charging £40 to £50 a head.

Air also suffered from being in the same building as Mash. Customers were not willing to pay the high prices when they could get similar food more cheaply at the other restaurant.

"Friday and Saturday night was fine, but the rest of the week it wasn't," said Peyton.

The restaurant will be replaced with a pool hall.

Meanwhile Gruppo's plans to open a Mash in London's Camden Town, north London, in July have been delayed by planning wrangles which will probably put back the opening until November or December.

The group has also put in a bid for a site for another Mash in the City of London.